Jean-Pierre De Caussade and the Caussadian Corpus

chapter 8 Jean-Pierre de Caussade and the Caussadian Corpus

Wendy M. Wright

The name Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675–1751) is indelibly etched in the contemporary Christian imagination as the author of the popular devotion- al manual best known in the English-speaking world as Abandonment to Di- vine Providence or, alternatively, The Sacrament of the Present Moment (1861). Although the Jesuit’s authorship of said work has been vigorously disputed in scholarly circles, it is clear both that this work and Caussade’s own thought – by accounts more clearly discernable in another contested work that bears his name, A Treatise on Prayer of the Heart (1741), and a collection of extant letters – can be identified as significant examples of the religious, social, and po- litical milieu of early eighteenth-century France. During this period, quarrels about “pure love,” mystically oriented prayer, and self-abandonment shaped the contours of Catholic spirituality. While this chapter will discuss the scholarly debates about the authorship of both Abandonment and Prayer of the Heart, I believe it will be more fruitful, us- ing some of the insights from the New Philology, to speak of a “Caussadian corpus,” or a set of cognate writings that may be from the actual pen of Caussade, be his work heavily redacted, or actually be the work of others that have come down to the present day bearing his name. What holds these texts together is their kinship with each other. This approach acknowledges the complex and often unstable process of literary creation and allows insight into the historical context in which Caussade wrote and taught about mystical prayer.1

1 The phrase “Caussadian corpus” is my own. New Philology is an informal guild within me- dieval philological research that abandons the principle of one single correct text edition in favor of acknowledging the complex and unstable processes of literary production that may involve any number of contributors. New Philology focuses on shifts and alterations in diversity within text families, one text not being prioritized over others but respected in kinship with other texts. The term was coined by philologist Stephen Nichols in a special issue of Speculum in 1990. I am extending this perspective to the texts that bear Jean-Pierre de Caussade’s name as it seems more useful to consider a Caussadian corpus in the midst of which Caussade’s own insights, which are clearly kin, can be considered a part. A useful essay on this is Elisabeth Hense, “New Philology as Helpful for Spirituality Research,” Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 15, no. 2 (Fall 2015): 172–190.

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Life

Little is known about the early years of Jean Pierre Thomas Caussade’s life.2 Born near Toulouse in March 1675, he studied humanities at the University of Cahors, entered the Jesuit novitiate in Toulouse at the age of eighteen, and for several years taught grammar, metaphysics, humanities, and rhetoric in the order’s schools at Auch, Aurillac, Rodez, and Saint-Flour. Records from this early period report that his superiors considered him somewhat “lacking in good sense.”3 Nevertheless, he advanced to the study of theology (being deemed by those evaluating him to be intellectually capable but not distinguished) and in 1705 was ordained to the priesthood. The young Jesuit completed his tertianship at Toulouse and continued teaching grammar, logic, and physics at various posts (Aurillac, Perpignan, and Toulouse), finally completing his doctorate in theology in 1715. Academic assignments continued for the next five years as he alternately held the position of prefect of studies at Rodez, Montauban, and Auch. In the following years, Caussade seems to have moved about frequently, pri- marily in assignments outside his province. A good deal of the time he was en- gaged in preaching missions in Lorraine. For two separate periods (1729?–30 and 1733–39) he served as the confessor and spiritual guide for the Visitation of Holy Mary monastery in Nancy. It is from this period and association that we have the most information about him: the Sisters of the Visitation at Nancy seemed to have esteemed him and made copies and compilations of his letters and various writings. In 1740, he was posted back to Toulouse. His last years were spent as rector of the Jesuit communities at Perpignan and Albi, and finally as spiritual director at the motherhouse in Toulouse, where he died in 1751.

Authorship and Textual Evidence

Caussade’s name has long been associated with the widely circulated treatise on surrender of the will generally known in English as Abandonment to Divine Providence or The Sacrament of the Present Moment. This attribution has been

2 The hyphen and the de were not used in Caussade’s name until late in his life. 3 For a detailed discussion of Caussade’s life, see Jacques Gagey, L’abandon à la providence divine d’une dame de Lorraine au XVIIIe siècle: Suivi des Lettres spirituelles de Jean-Pierre de Caussade à cette dame, édition critique établie par Jacques Gagey (Grenoble: Éditions Jérôme Millon, 2001).